Okay so all of this is normal, right? Sometimes this and sometimes that....

[SuddenEclipse]

Okay this is my 2nd post on this forum. Let me be TOTALLY HONEST here: I over analyze everything. ^_^ I am just very careful and want the very best for my pets (I really never want to have children so these guys are my babies), and since I'm new to the BP thing, please let me know if all this stuff is normal and cool. If you read my other post, Althea (my BP) spazzed out the other day. Scared the you know what outta me. Since then I've regrouped and am messing with her again. hehe

1) Often times when I hold her, she yawns. I know she can also be re-aligning her jaw - to eat. But she's never nipped at me. So... if she's yawning when she's out (she does it most when I let her hang out on my laptop keyboard) then that means she's all relaxed and casual, right? I've never gotten a pic of her doing it, happens so quick and I'm not ready. But then after I'm like omg, is she gonne bite next? She never has, so like I said, I'm probably over analyzing.

2) Today I felt all special because she went to drink her water and she totally ignored me when I was stroking her and just kept on drinking. So... that's a good thing that she just keeps drinking even though I'm petting her, right? I even took a pic of it so I will post some pics of her soon.

3) Sometimes when I hold her she will put her nose RIGHT up against my finger. Like touching it. Usually my pinky. And so I'm like what are you doing dood...? I am small and skinny so I'm like does she think my finger is a baby mouse and she's gonna have a little sample? She eats full grown adult mice every week, every Friday. I never miss. And I feed her inside her enclosure so she NEVER eats anywhere else. So I'm just being stupid again, right?

4) Sometimes she gets all coiled up with her head/neck when I hold her. Then I start thinking wtf dood... But I think she's just trying to make a "U-turn" to turn around or look someplace else. Right? But I hope she's not thinking about striking.

5) She is almost always in her little rock cover near her warm side where the under-tank heater is. So when I want to hold her I move it. (whenever I feed her I leave it in, so I feel like when I move it she isn't all looking for food.) Anyway, I usually stroke her first to say "hey it's me..." since prey animals don't usually stroke the snakes. Anyway, sometimes she gets her head/neck all tight in that "S". Is she just waking up and being shy? I am careful to pet her on her body that is behind her head so she would have to make a major ninja move to bite me, and when I pick her up she's never hissed or nipped or been aggressive. So is this whole S thing just her waking up or what?

She has NEVER hissed at me. Once I touched the sensitve tip of her tail (gently!) and she moved real quick. oops, but she moved away, not towards me.

6) I have seen videos where people let their ball pythons swim. Is this good? We do not have well water. I pour out her old water give her fresh bottled water every other day. If I let her swim in the jacuzzi, does it have to me chlorine free? I can have one side with water and the other not so she would not be forced to be in the water if she doesn't want to. Should I make it warm? Room temp? Or is this just a bad idea altother. Her water dish is large enough for her to sit in, but not large enough for her to swim in. Her enclosure, being 1 peice acrylic, holds humidity just fine so humidity isn't a problem here, I was just wondering if she would enjoy a swim and am worried about temp of the water and the chlorine issue.

7) Sometimes when I hold her she wants to move around a lot and gets annoying. So I put her back in the enclosure and she usually poops or pees after. I guess if I had to poo I wouldn't want someone holding me either, but does any of your snakes act the same way? I am glad she's not constipated and holds it in until I get her back, but good grief. Sometimes she's had all day to poo, why does she gotta wait for it until I'm ready to play??

8) I told you I over-analyze.

So besides telling me I'm a loser wad and that I just need to handle her more so I'm used to her... what do you guys think?

[wolfy-hound]

1) Yawning in snakes is not a sign of aggression. They have no social behaviors and yawning as a "warning" would be a social sign of 'you're making me nervous' in say.. dogs. In snakes, it means the snake needed to yawn.

2)If your snake remains calm and doesn't seem to notice when you touch it, it's relaxed.

3)Putting the nose RIGHT against a body part, especially if there's nudging or pushing CAN be a signal they're going to try to eat the part. It doesn't mean it's going to bite but it could be, so when it does so, you might just move your finger slowly away just so it's not pushing against it. If the nose is just happening to be next to, probably means nothing.

4)If her neck is "coiled" back but she's fairly relaxed, she's just moving around. If she tenses and pulls back in the S-curve, she could be startled and is just being certain she's ready for an unknown situation. She could be responding to anything, including a flash of light or smell that you can't even notice. Not hard-and-fast rule.. but if she's really tensed up, something probably startled her. Move slowly and not around her head and she'll probably relax again when nothing appears that's threatening.

5)Usually I like to say 'don't disturb the animal in it's hide' but honestly, ball pythons often spend most of their time in the hides, so I don't feel it's as big of a deal with them. If the snake is asleep, then when you touch it, you could be waking it out of a very sound sleep. Your "petting" is really no different than the light touch of a predetor. Remember, snakes don't have social behaviors, so grooming between individuals doesn't happen, and isn't an instinct. Dogs lick each other, etc.. snakes do not engage in that type of behavior. So a light touch to make sure it's awake is good, but remember that to the snake, it's a harmless touch, not a "petting".

6) Ball pythons do not need to swim, and personally I think a snake in a deep container of water is simply swimming because it's not drowning. I don't think I've ever seen a video of a snake in an enclosure with suffient hides to choose from, then go and choose to go into water to swim around. I've seen them put into water to soak which can be fine. I've seen them go into water while roaming to get out or find a hide. Never seen one choose to go swimming.

I especially would NOT put a snake into a spa, whirlpool or hot tub. Especially not with chlorinated water. If you choose to soak her for some reason, I would suggest only enough to come up to the snake's "width" so it can soak and doesn't need to 'swim'.

7) Her pooping after being held could be that she needed to poop and was moving around because of it. They don't 'hold it' in order to not poop on you. It could be that she didn't want to be held and was getting stressed and that made her need to poop. Like a puppy getting excited and worked up and then it pees? Or it could be that she needed to poop and was moving around "working the poop" down her intestinal track? It's hard to tell. Sometimes a snake has to just poop.

8) Analyzing every single twitch and movement is actually not uncommon when you have a new pet that you really want to take proper care of. Don't worry. All good owners will start out wondering about every nuance of the animal's behavior and food etc etc. It's all good.

All of the above is based only on my own experiances and opinions. Your opinions may vary.

[SuddenEclipse]

Thank you for responding! You are very sweet to take the time to answer all of my questions! Thank you's Xs 100! :-) So I'm not gonna make her swim ever! And I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing! Just didn't like that whole freak out incident that happened a few days ago, so if you get a chance to read my other post about the "spaz attack" I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on that strange incident.

[seeya205]

Everything sounds pretty normal! Every snake has it's own personalty and you will learn it's behavior over time! Good luck and have fun!!!

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

BPs are known to be NOT very good swimmers in deep water. They tire easily and can drown. This why we say if you ever need to soak a BP after a bad shed to help the stuck skin come off, only put it in enough water to barely cover it's body so it does not need to fight to keep it's head above water. They are not aquatic.

You will get to understand snakes movements and behavior the more you interact with your own. It's a wild animal that simply needs to learn that you are not a threat. There will always be times when you startle it and it balls up or goes into the S curve strike position. You just need to know how and where to touch it to snap it out of that mode and quickly scoop it up.